Brother: 12/30/08

Brother by James Fredericks is a mystery / thriller centered on two brothers, each (eventually) accused of crimes he did not commit. The two have to work together to clear their names despite amazing odds.

The book is 410 pages long but the plot doesn't really get started until halfway through the book. It is almost as slow with wrapping up its various plot threads leaving the reader lurching along in a book that just can't quite get up to speed or stay in gear.

Individual chapters are well written. The court room sessions with Chase Riordan as the defense attorney who will be framed for the murders he has been defending various clients against are well written and interesting. The courtroom drama of Brother is the novel's strongest point. It is unfortunately competing with the misadventures of Jared (the other brother) and his time in the military and a third plot involving a cigarette manufacturing company.

Imagine if you will, an entire season of Perry Mason where at the end of the season, he's accused of having killed all the people in the previous trials. The imagine if he had a brother who has been in a military hospital and is now on the loose. Finally imagine that a client of his has been slowly masterminding the entire frame up for reasons unknown. It might have worked had the frame up started sooner and had a tighter, quicker ending.

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